


Alike

by lilaclily00



Series: Danny/Valerie Roleswap!AU (Phoenix AU) [4]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: AU, D/V Roleswap!AU, Danny/Valerie Roleswap!AU, Does anyone remember this AU from last year? Probably not, Gen, roleswap!Au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 10:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28470111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilaclily00/pseuds/lilaclily00
Summary: Valerie meets her arch-nemesis.(Set a couple months after "Apologies")
Series: Danny/Valerie Roleswap!AU (Phoenix AU) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1311206
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	Alike

**Author's Note:**

  * For [galaxyghosts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxyghosts/gifts).



> I finished this in July 2019 and then forgot that I did. :)
> 
> Happy New Year! May the next year suck less!!
> 
> On with the story!

"Dad, this is boring."

There, she said it. Her dad glanced over, looking away from trying to rearrange the fliers and free goodies in his arms.

"I expected you to say that a long time ago, honestly," he chuckled, but Valerie was not amused. He nudged her with his elbow. "I know computers are not your thing, baby, but hold on a little longer. I'm sure you'll find something that interests you, too."

That's what she had hoped for, but with being at this tech convention for two hours now and  _ still _ nothing caught her eye, she'd just about given up. Why did she agree to come?

They rounded the corner, and she glanced up, then did a double-take. The Fentons were here?

"Hi, Valerie!" Mrs. Fenton chirped, nimbly sliding through the crowd towards her. "Hello, Damon!"

"Hello," her dad replied as Mr. Fenton bounded up to them as well, nearly knocking people over with his own goodie bags and snacks. "It's been a while, hasn't it? How are you?"

Valerie internally groaned; she was not up for listening to adults and their small talk.

Mrs. Fenton grinned. "Oh, wonderful! We've been having so much fun seeing everyone's work!"

Her husband nodded. "Usually we have our own booth up and so we hardly get to do our own wandering. This year ended up different."

"I thought you had built back up your business?" Her dad frowned. Valerie had the feeling she should be paying attention after all.

Mr. Fenton hesitated, then said, "Well, yes, we are doing much better than a couple months ago, but we still don't really have anything we can present or sell publicly. It's not on the priority list."

"Plus, setting up an entire display takes up a lot of time that we just don't have right now," Mrs. Fenton continued with a shrug.

"But don't worry about us, Damon, we'll be ready next year!" her husband boomed. "Now what about you?"

Valerie's dad went on to talk about his own work, but Valerie heard none of it.

She thought she was done with blaming herself because she was already working on fixing it--helping get the ghosts that go into town back in the portal and trying to be friends with Danny even though he was trying to kill her. Why did the guilt have to hit her again like this? She hugged herself, hands digging into the sides of her sweater.

Why did she have to care about the Fentons so much?

"Val?" She jumped at her dad's voice, and turned to him wide-eyed. "They were asking how you're doing in school."

"Oh, sorry!" She cringed at her own nervous laugh. "Yeah, I'm doing well. I'm struggling a bit with AP History and AP English, but it's kinda my own fault for picking to take them together in the first place."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Mrs. Fenton said with an encouraging smile, while her dad gave Valerie a weird... look. Did she say something wrong?

"Just be responsible and don't do even more AP classes at the same time the next semester, like I did when I was in school!" Mr. Fenton laughed aloud.

"I'm glad you know your limits better now, dear," his wife responded, patting his back. "Well, we should leave the two of you to enjoy the convention."

Before the Grays could reply, Mr. Fenton said, pointing with his thumb behind him, "Oh, Damon! Have you checked out the Vladco display yet? It'll be relevant to your work, and it's run by our good ol' friend, Vlad!"

Her dad raised his eyebrows. "I have not. We'll go do that!"

With farewells given, Valerie's dad led towards where Danny's dad had pointed. "I wonder how Vladco will be relevant?"

"I dunno, Dad," she replied half-mindedly, eyes traveling along all the different booths on the way.

"Also, when did you start struggling with your AP classes?"

She glanced over to him, but his face didn't tell her what he was thinking. Carefully, she began, "Kinda recently, I guess. They're starting to give us projects on top of the normal homework and it gets hard to keep up."

They swerved around a large group in the middle of the walkway before he replied, "But this is why we kept your schedule free after school besides MMA. That worked fine while you were in middle school. So you don't have time anymore?" 

Valerie wasn't liking where this was going. "High school is harder, Dad."

"Not as much harder as your grades suggest." Her heartbeat spiked. He saw her progress report? He hardly cared to before since she always had high marks!

He veered over to the side of the walkway, nudging her to join him, and stopped to study her face. "Have you been leaving the house after school?"

Oh no. Oh no no no. There was no way she could lie through her teeth, not entirely. Her mind was racing, but all she managed to say yet was "Yeah."

He shuffled around his fliers and goodies to his other arm to run his hand through his hair fretfully. "Why? Where have you been going?"

Excuse, excuse, where is it?--Aha! "I've been going to help my friends. They've been extra dumb lately." Both were true, just not in the way he'd expect.

He shook his head at her. "That doesn't mean you should go sneak out, you could just tell me! And they shouldn't make you help them with their homework so often, to the detriment of your own grades!"

She didn't correct him; better he thought she meant homework than anything else. "I didn't want to worry you, Daddy."

"But--"

She pushed on. "And I want to help even if I don't really have time anymore. I mean, being a good friend isn't ever convenient, but it's worth it."

She was surprised to realize that the rest of that was absolutely true. She  _ did _ want to go fight the ghosts, she  _ did _ want to do it with her friends, who were realer than ever before, and it was all worth it.

Her dad noticed that a smile had formed on her face before she did, and deflated into himself a little. "I see. I still think they're depending on you too much, but if you're happy with how things are now, then I'm happy too. Please just let me know when you're leaving and where to, okay? I don't want to worry over finding you missing from your room again."

Her heart ached. "I will," she promised, mentally adding that she would as long as it wasn't past bedtime. "And I'm working on getting my grades back up, too."

"Good, good..." Her dad was nodding to himself. "Can you hold some of this junk so I can hug you?"

She laughed, grabbing the stack of fliers from his arms, plus one of the goody bags. "I was expecting you to say that a long time ago."

"Hey, don't go stealing my words!" He pulled her into a one-armed hug. "I'm proud of you, baby. Love you."

A cynical piece of her brain told her that his love was conditional, but she ignored it. "Thank you, Daddy. Love you too."

He broke the hug, and glanced around. "Alright, what were we doing again?"

"Looking for Vladco," she reminded.

"Right! Let's go!"

* * *

She never thought she'd find a reason to say something like this, but the man looked like such a Vlad.

She'd seen pictures of Vlad Masters before. He was a world-famous billionaire, after all, even if no one really knew anything else about him. However, she didn't realize until seeing him now, in person, how much he fit his unique name. 

He was tall, decently fit, and wearing a pristine black suit that out-dressed everyone else in the building. He had piercing blue eyes--she described them that way because he glanced over at her after greeting her dad and stared straight into her soul--and slicked back gray hair that made her wonder how old he really was. Maybe owning a massive corporation was already wearing him out.

He still seemed pretty nice, even though he was also a little intimidating. And seemed to be much smarter than everyone else. Like a Slytherin, she thought. Like a  _ Vlad _ .

"This is actually my first time at this convention, Mr. Gray," Vlad was telling her dad. "It's a long way for a CEO to go only for a booth, after all. Nonetheless, I have enjoyed my time here so far."

With a polite smile, her dad asked, "Did you come this year to see the Fentons?" At Vlad's silent gaze, he nervously added, "Jack said you were old friends."

Finally, Vlad replied, "Indeed, Jack and Maddie were dear friends back in college. I hadn't seen them in years, so I came to visit, in a sense. Made some plans."

"That's great! I hope those go well."

"As do I." With that, Vlad led her and her dad over to the main display, something about new security tech. Her dad was all over it, but she only half-listened. 

Suddenly, she felt a shiver run down her spine, giving her a real reason to be distracted. Why did a ghost decide to show up in this massive crowd?

"I'm gonna find the bathroom," she muttered to her dad before running off. She didn't have to go far, only a couple rows down, before she saw a giant humanoid forming in the air out of random tech from various displays. A bright, ecto green face flashed a red grin on the otherwise blank screen of its TV head.

"Behold the power of Technus, Master of Technology! I command the obedience of all things metal and beeping! Bow before me, puny mortals!"

Amid all the people screaming, ducking, and running, Valerie dove under the nearest table to transform. She floated up through the table invisibly, up to the high ceiling of the convention center.

"I'd rather not, but thanks for the suggestion!" she shouted down as she became visible again.

Technus turned his TV face up, and the collection of electronics drifted up toward her. "Excuse me? It was an order, not a mere suggestion!"

She crossed her arms. "Oh, your orders don't mean anything in  _ my _ town."

"You think you can stop me, ghost child? I am Technus, King of Machines and Electrical Doodads!"

She wasn't so sure, actually. She'd been beaten already, or won but passed out at the end (which kinda canceled out the win, didn't it?). She'd only really won against blobs, octopi, and--miraculously--the Lunch Lady (thanks  _ so _ much for that, Sam). She'd just barely figured out how to shoot beams out of her hands, like, a week ago, and not  _ well _ . 

Nonetheless, she said, "Of course I can, and I will."

The TV face snarled at her (how did he pull that off with those massive pixels?) and floated up closer, ready to swing. She beat him to the punch with a red ray from her hands, which hit the main body of computers and gadgetry.

She suddenly swerved down as she evaded a stream of PDAs shot at her like bullets. (Tucker would be crying right now.) One of the PDAs hit a ceiling light, and she cursed under her breath as she flew towards the falling fixture. She fumbled but caught it before it got very far. Before she had successfully decided what to do with the massive thing, she instinctively used it as a shield when Technus threw a punch at her. She shot at his gadget hand as it retreated, clutching the light to herself with her other hand.

She and Technus both flinched back with surprise at the arrival of another, floating straight up between them fearlessly. He faced Technus, his cape billowing out behind him. Her eyes narrowed as she slid the ceiling light into a baseball bat hold.

"What are you doing here?" the stranger drawled, and a shiver ran down Valerie's spine, gripping tighter her weapon.

"Plasmius!" The TV face looked surprisingly hesitant and... scared? "How good to see you!" The green pixel eyes darted around. "Are you--"

"Usually, I do not care about your petty intents to take over the world." Something about his voice just... unsettled Valerie. He really didn't care. "However, it is inconvenient for me today, so I suggest you leave now--or I will make you."

"Got it, I'm going,  _ yeesh _ . But this is not the last you've seen of me, ghost girl!" Valerie breathed a sigh of relief, which hitched with panic as Technus released his control from the electronics--all at the same time. 

She swooped down, light fixture forgotten, core pulsing at the thought of anyone getting caught under all of that. A couple people who had stuck around to gawk at the fight were screaming, and she reached them just in time to activate her intangibility and grab their arms. 

The ceiling light hit the floor in the distance. Then,  _ everything else  _ right where they stood.

Her amplified hearing ached as metal crashed at her feet and the humans kept screaming. She scrunched her eyes closed and didn't move for fear she'd lose her concentration, but man, it  _ hurt _ . 

It was  _ screech _ es and  _ bam _ s for an eternity, but then it finally stopped and she could  _ think _ . Slowly, she walked, tugging along the two people with her, and kept up her focus until they were successfully outside of the pile of tech. She let them go and collapsed--faintly, she registered the others also on the floor, working through their shock. She didn't feel emotions as strongly as a ghost, thank goodness for that, but that save had taken up just about all the rest of her energy.

And so, it was once she gathered strength she didn't have to be aware of her surroundings again that she realized a glowing figure was standing before her. She numbly stared at his polished black shoes.

"You must be a new ghost," the figure mused, and Valerie's memories caught back up to her. He was Something-us. "You are rather weak... But why would you save the humans?"

Valerie's eyebrows barely furrowed. "Because it's the right thing to do...?" She finally looked up to the stranger's face, and her confusion rose. "Are you a vampire?"

"No, I'm not a vampire!" the blue man hissed, very vampire-like. "Are you so new that you have never heard of Vlad Plasmius? Feared across the whole Ghost Zone?"

She held back a smile; this Vlad guy was less scary when he apparently got so easily offended. Somehow, he fit his name well. (Didn't she have the same thought earlier today?--) "Maybe you're not as feared as you thought if no one passed on the message to me."

Plasmius's eyes flashed. "Don't think I have any reservations against fighting a little girl." 

Valerie bristled. She  _ wasn't _ a little girl. She had regained a little more energy, and used it to stand up and face him properly. He was way taller than her, so she floated. "The name's Phoenix."

The man grinned, mirth in his voice. "You have a name? How  _ intimidating _ ."

She was undeterred, merely crossing her arms as she continued. "And you won't have to hear it ever again so long as you don't try to hurt anyone."

"Hm, strange threat from a ghost. What would you do if I did something you didn't like?"

Valerie unclipped her thermos from her belt and held it up with a cocked eyebrow.

She had fished it out of the Fentons' boxes of broken tech in their shed when no one was home. With her friends' help, she had managed to get it working just like Danny's-- _ Orion's _ , she kept forgetting to call him that--but looking  _ just _ different enough. It was a bit banged up, despite the shiny red paint, but she didn't mind.

She thought she would have to explain to him what the object in her hand could do, so she was surprised when Plasmius immediately tensed, eyes locked on the otherwise-unassuming thermos.

"I see," he just about growled, red eyes flicking back up to reconsider her. For a moment, Valerie felt a flicker of pride in herself for managing to look like a challenge, but a longer flicker of fear that he would fight her anyways. After a few more seconds, the staring match was ended by him abruptly vanishing.

For a second, Valerie didn't want to believe he was really gone. She slowly spun, waiting for a reappearance. She couldn't sense any ghosts around anymore, though, so it seemed it was over.  _ For now _ , she suspected.

She warily stuck the thermos back onto belt. She looked back down and noticed the two people she'd saved, still splayed on the floor but staring up at her.

She crouched down to their faces. "You're okay, right?"

"Y-yeah, thanks," one muttered. They flinched when she offered her hand, then flinched again as they grasped it. She swiftly helped both of them stand back up.

The other blurted, "You said your name was Phoenix, right?" At her nod, they tacked on another thanks and the pair ran off.

She felt something vaguely warm in her, something that wasn't her core. She was actually thanked, for once. It was ni--

She screamed as pain shot through her back, pulsed through her entire body like she had become one large bruise, like her very _soul_ was punched. She was far too familiar with the feeling by now: she was just hit with a high-speed blast of ectoplasm. She was driven into a nearby table, obliterating it on impact. She had no chance to fight off her transformation back to a human.

Panting, she slowly lifted up her human head and set the fiercest glare her beat-up body could summon on the figure stalking up to her. Which wasn't very fierce, to be honest. Whoever this Plasmius guy was, he punched  _ really  _ hard.

"I never thought there'd come a day when..." Plasmius was shaking his head in disbelief, laughing. "I could feel there was something different about you, but  _ this! _ "

"Only a coward shoots behind your back," she hissed, struggling to lift herself up.

"There's nothing wrong with a dirty trick every once in a while," he replied easily, grin growing. "That is a lesson you need to learn soon if you want to strengthen your powers and win fights."

"I've already won fights, thank you very much."

"But you could win so many more! That's important to you, isn't it?” He held out his hand, as if he genuinely expected her to go  _ anywhere _ with him. “I could teach you."

Valerie pulled her hands into fists. "And why would you want to do that?"

He slid his hand back to his side easily. Somehow, his smile was even bigger, canines unsheathed. "You and I are very much alike."

Fury flowed through her, forcing her to stand. "No, we're not!" She was  _ nothing _ like a ghost so slimy as to fire at people's backs. She refused to be that low of a person anymore.

"Oh, yes we are," he nearly sing-songed. A light appeared around his waist, and Valerie's heart dropped to her stomach as it moved over him, revealing his human form. 

It was Vlad Masters.

It made no sense, and yet she couldn't deny that same smirk came so easily to both versions. That same unsettling feeling. (He had stared into her soul, then shot it.) This was real.

He glanced over his shoulder, then returned to smirking at her. That was when she saw her dad running up from the end of the battlefield, fliers and other junk falling out of his arms. Her dad and Vlad knew each other. After what he just did, she had no doubt Vlad would use that against her.

"I think we will get along splendidly, Ms. Gray."

* * *

She didn't think this convention could get worse, yet it did.

The Fentons had found their way to the scene too late, just like her dad, except with guns out and ready to take down some ectoplasmic scum. She wondered if they would've shot Vlad Plasmius if they had arrived sooner. She wished they did.

That was because, even though she was feeling better now, she had no chance to land a punch on him. Not with her and Danny's parents right there.

Vlad convinced all three that he had scared off the ghost and saved Valerie. She would've called BS right there, except something told her it was a bad idea. Well, that something was Vlad's glare out of the corner of his eye every time he fed them another lie.

_ "Don't think I have any reservations against fighting a little girl." _ He already proved he wasn't bluffing. 

She still had so many questions, but she already knew most of what she needed to know: he had powers like hers but stronger, and he was a liar and a cheater. In other words, a  _ terrible  _ combination.

The only piece of information she needed was what he wanted  _ her  _ for.

He said he wanted to teach her about her powers, but she doubted it ended there. Did he want to hone her into a mini-Vlad? Use her in some kind of plot?

Was she  _ already  _ being used in one of his plots?

Her gut twisted. Based on her dad's conversation, that just might be true.


End file.
